In Love, or Lust, or Slight Obsession?
by LJPhilpy
Summary: AU, Hermione is in her second year at Uni, Someone joins the teaching staff and turns her life upside down. Loosely based on the fact that there is a really hot lecturer at my now ex-uni. Femme slash, HG/MM don't like don't read. rated for the inevitable


A/N: okay so I know I should be writing Timeless Attraction and Self Destruct however I can't seem to get the creative juices flowing so this is what came out when I sat down to write today. The start of another fic which will be open as with the other two and added to when I get the time. I really am sorry to those who are wanting updates for TA and SD but I am now free of Uni and in the real world so more time to write and hopefully many updates soon.

As per usual I sadly do not own them I just play for non-profit fun. This has also been beta'd. The first time ever. Read by a male escort and budding novelist mate of mine as he struggles to write the first chapter of his book. Anyways I really need a beta so if anyone is interested please PM me. I'd be happy to reciprocate but I don't know if I'd be that helpful.

Enjoy

It had been four years since the end of Voldemort, three years since the re-opening of Hogwarts and two years since Hermione Granger had walked the halls of the great castle for the last time, having graduated top of her year, well of those who had returned. She had been given the opportunity to continue her studies at one of the most prestigious higher magical education institutes in the world.

It is here that we pick up on the life of the brains behind the golden trio:

The first year had flown passed; classes, studying, friends and all the usual student activities that university brings. The workload hadn't been as bad as she had thought it would be; She aced every exam and finished the year top of the class as per usual.

The second year had started off pretty much the same as the first: Slightly more work but for someone of Hermione's intellect it wasn't that bad. It was nearing the Christmas break when it happened. Not many people had noticed the change in her and of those not one had noticed the reason for it, 'she' had taken a position within the teaching staff and was walking around campus on a daily basis.

Hermione Jean Granger had a secret- well can it really be called a secret if she just failed to mention it to people? She wasn't sure. If anyone had asked her about it she always thought she would tell the truth, and that concept was about to be tested…

Since the day that the Prophet had announced the news that she was coming Hermione had been on edge, the idea of being able to catch glimpses of her walking through the halls had made her ecstatic. Then, as she started to think about it, the worry had set in. And as her mind raced contemplating the unrequited feelings she had harbored for years, her studies took a back step to the downward spiral of depression that was setting in.

Late November was approaching and the prospect of writing too many essays to count was driving the depression further. Deciding that she needed a break from everything that was going on, a trip to the Burrow appeared to be in order.

"Hermione Jean Granger, is that really you?... I can't believe it."

"Oh, shut up Ginny it hasn't been that long that you have forgotten what I look like!" Hermione grinned as she embraced her friend. "Thought it was time for a break."

"A break, we haven't seen you since the start of term. We though maybe because of, you know…" Ginny trailed off not wanting to upset her.

"What, you mean that immature little twerp of a brother of yours flaunting his latest girl in front of me. As if it would make me suddenly fall in love with him. Like that'll ever happen. He really does need to get over it." She made her way passed Ginny, through the kitchen door and started to make some tea.

"You know, Hermione we all thought you would end up together." Ginny knew she was pushing her a bit, but it would have been amazing to have Hermione be a real part of the family.

"Well you all thought wrong, didn't you? It's been 4 years and he still can't get over the fact that he is like a brother to me and will never in a million years be anything more. Can we change the subject please?"

"Oh alright, so you seeing anyone at uni-?" She had changed the subject just not to far off the topic.

"Good grief Ginny, no I'm not but I came here to gat away from all of that."

"So there is someone then?"

Hermione couldn't stop her mind from traveling to the places she knew it shouldn't: the tall slender frame of a powerful woman standing at the front of a room of uninterested students. The way her wrist moved when she flicked her wand in just the precise way needed to transform a human into a rat, and the way the perpetual butterflies in her stomach leapt up her throat when her eyes met those of the woman in her dream. Yes, yes… there was someone.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

An unbelievably, undeniable beauty: an unattainable someone- the distant look and the hint of a smile were just enough to have Ginny convinced in any case. "I knew it. Sit, drink and do tell."

This was it, someone had asked and she would tell.

"Alright Gin, I'll tell you but this is between us. Only us. And I beg you not to judge." Ginny nodded her ascent. "Okay well there are a few things I really should tell you to begin with." She paused for breath. "You have to understand that what I'm going to tell you is something I haven't told anyone, I thought I never would have to. But having her around again is something I never thought would happen… Gin you okay?"

Ginny was sat mouth open unable to close it staring blankly at Hermione. "Did… Did you just say her?"

"Oh shit, yeh. I was going to soften the blow a bit more than that but yeh I said her." Hermione's arms folded over her chest setting herself up in a defensive state.

"Well, bloody hell that explains a lot 'Mione. Why the hell did you not tell me before?" The hurt look that crossed Ginny's face relaxed the defensive witch.

"I just didn't think it was real. I thought that maybe it was a phase and I'd grow out of it. I honestly don't know. I'm sorry Gin. I just thought that maybe I'd loose my best friends, my life, the woman of my dreams."

"Hey, wait a minute it's not me is it?"

"No, it isn't you. It's someone who I have longed for for over a decade. Someone who has shown me how a true warrior, a true friend and how a true woman should be." Tears started to slide down the face of Hermione at the last.

Ginny stood and darted towards the older witch dragging her from the chair and smothering her in a hug. "'Mione I would have been here for you, been someone to talk to." Releasing her friend and returning to her chair a thought struck the young woman. " Who is she?"

Taking a deep breath and hoping beyond all hope that Ginny would take as kindly to this revelation as to the first, she opened her mouth to say the name. But closed it just as abruptly. Saying it out loud would make it real! She had to do it… She had to tell her best friend, "McGonagall."

The shame that swept over her was something she had not expected. Dropping her head to stare blankly at her wringing hands, there was stunned silence from Ginny. Had Hermione just admitted that the rumours that had spread around the school, since her best friend had been in her third year, were actually true?

"Did you just say McGonagall, as in Minerva McGonagall, ex-Headmistress of Hogwarts- the newly instated head of transfiguration, at the Merlin Academy of Senior Wizarding Education and Research? _That_ McGonagall?" There was a small nod of the head from Hermione. "Wow… that really does explain a lot. No wonder my brother never had a chance with you."

"She just showed up at Maswer at the beginning of the year and it knocked me for six. I thought that being in a new place, I would forget about her but she really is the most amazing person I have ever met. She makes me giddy, nervous, undeniably stupid and awestruck whenever we cross paths." Now she had opened the floodgates she wasn't sure she would be able to stop them. "She is the most intelligent, gentle and beautiful woman I have ever met and to compare anyone to her… they would not stand a chance! She is unique and captured my heart the minute I stepped into Hogwarts at the age of 11. I thought I just wanted to know her- then I thought that I wanted to be like her. But then one day I realized that it was so much more- that there was something lurking in the bottom of my heart that was completely different from the admiration I thought it to be… I had fallen hard." Hermione ended as the sobs she had been trying to keep at bay overwhelmed her.

Ginny once again pushed herself from her seat and made her way to Hermione, pulling her into a hug. The soft sobs coming from the brunette echoed throughout the kitchen at the burrow. They covered the quick retreat of a spectator. Neither knew they had heard the full confession. The retreat of a person who had made their way to just outside the boundaries of the Burrow and taking a look back onto the scene they had intruded upon, aparated with a small pop: a small pop that could be heard in the kitchen where both women turned to look at the point where the eavesdropper had vanished.

Hermione was sure that her imagination was playing tricks on her: She could have sworn she had seen a flash of emerald robes disappear into thin air!


End file.
